Science and Politics Don't Mix

Interesting post at Dean's World about the HIV/AIDS link, or lack thereof. When I lived in Berekeley in the early '90s, I read and heard a lot about Dr. Peter Duesberg and his battle with the forces of political correctness and anti-science silliness over what he believes to be a nonexistent link between the Human Immunodeficiency Virus and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. This is his argument, and it's pretty convincing. For example:

It is paradoxical that HIV is said to cause AIDS only after the onset of antiviral immunity, detected by a positive "AIDS test," because all other viruses are most pathogenic before immunity. The immunity against HIV is so effective that free virus is undetectable, which is why HIV is so hard to transmit. The virus would be a plausible cause of AIDS if it were reactivated after an asymptomatic latency, like herpes viruses. However, HIV remains inactive during AIDS. Thus the "AIDS test" identifies effective natural vaccination, the ultimate protection against viral disease.

Duesberg went from one of the most respected in his field to the most loathed man in the Bay Area when he managed to offend all of San Francisco at once by observing that although HIV didn't seem to cause AIDS by any serious scientific understanding of the virus/disease relationship, drinking, smoking, doing drugs and having anal sex with strangers was a great way to compromise your immune system, as was having whole blood transfusions like Arthur Ashe. Pete probably thought he was passing along a useful piece of info and ended up almost fired, with empty classes because the politically hyperaware students were boycotting him. He'd get invited by CNN and the networks to debate the topic and get replaced at the last minute by a detractor. Everybody hated him.

But he was doing the science right, and still is. Making observations about a disease and possible causes has nothing to do with politics, and it's immeasurably sad when the mob dictates scientific truth. Next time you meet a scientist and he or she expresses a political preference, punch them in the face. That'll teach 'em.